Category Archives: Win7View

Notes on Windows 7, Win7 compatible software and hardware, reviews, tips and more.

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

Blinking Monitor Gets Easy Fix

May 26, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

When it comes to Windows, it’s always something. When I logged in this morning, it was my number two (right-hand) monitor, blinking on and off at about 3 second intervals. From long experience, I know the most likely cause for such misbehavior is the graphics driver. Thus, I immediately fire up the GeForce Experience app, see a new driver is available, download and install same. And that, dear Readers, is how my blinking monitor gets easy fix. If only all of my problems were so easily solved!

Driver Update Means Blinking Monitor
Gets Easy Fix

Graphics drivers are notoriously finicky beasts. They can cause all kinds of interesting problems, especially when new drivers cause hijinks on older graphics cards (or circuitry). My production desktop incorporates a GeForce GTX 1070, which is now about 5 years old. Because of the scarcity of newer generation (2xxx and 3xxx) GPUs right now — coin miners are snatching them up in droves — this model is still in extremely wide use. Hence, I’m inclined to trust new drivers. That’s because Nvidia would aggravate a sizable population if they let a substandard GTX 1070 driver out the door.

Luckily for me, my inclinations proved justified. After installing v466.47, I see no further blinking from the right-hand monitor (#2 in the lead-in graphic). It’s nice when the most obvious fix turns out to be the only one that’s required. Again, I know from experience that troubleshooting issues further would get more interesting and probably end up costing money.

My next move would have been to swap the DisplayPort cables that tie monitors 1 and 2 to the GeForce card. If the blinking had switched positions, that would indicate a cable replacement. If not, card troubleshooting would begin in earnest. And with GPUs so expensive and hard to find right now, that could have been a real problem.

Sometimes, here in Windows-World, you get away with an occasionally easy fix for your problems. Today, I’m celebrating my simple and painless escape!

Recent Activity, Software Reviews, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

Macrium Reflect 8 Drops Commercial-only Versions

May 25, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As I was perusing my usual Windows 10 news sources yesterday, I noticed that version 8 of the excellent Macrium Reflect backup tool made its debut. My excitement deflated quickly, as I figured out that Macrium Reflect 8 drops commercial-only versions.

Fortunately, I have a 4-license package of Macrium Reflect Home. This I upgraded to version 8 for a “mere” US$75.72 (US$69 plus tax). This got me to v8 on those PCs that run a commercial version. That means my production desktop, my road/travelling PC, and my wife’s and son’s PCs. But what about Macrium 8 Free?

This terse statement about MR V8 Free popped up on TenForums yesterday (Thanks, Kari!).

Macrium Reflect 8 Drops Commercial-only Versions: Free Comes Later

A mainstay in the Windows 10 toolbox is the no-cost version of Macrium Reflect (MR). Known as Reflect Free it offers about 85% of the functionality of the commercial version. I’ve used it for 6-plus years on my test PCs and have yet to find a situation the free version couldn’t handle, backup and restore wise. I bought a 4-license pack to do my bit to support a company whose products I like and endorse.

Word on the street is that the v8 Free version is coming, but won’t be out until the end of the summer (see preceding graphic). That item was dated May 20. Doing that calendar math puts the date on or around August 18. For the time being, users have no choice but to wait for the v8 version of Macrium Reflect Free to makes its appearance.

What’s New in Reflect Home v8?

The software’s maker — Paramount Software UK Ltd — has helpfully put together such a list in handy graphic form. I copy it here verbatim from their “Reflect 8” web page:

Some of these features won’t be included in the Free version when it appears, but many/most of them will.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Of these features, intra daily backups (repeated, frequent copies of specific data files) are quite interesting plus well-informed and -intentioned. I need to spend some time with the new version to really understand what it can do. Alas, that must wait for the press of paying work to abate a bit (I’m kinda busy these days, which has its good and bad points).

Networking, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10

NirSoft Adds Winning ManageWirelessNetworks Tool

May 24, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Anybody who’s been reading my stuff for a while knows I like the work of Israeli developer Nir Sofer. His company, NirSoft adds winning ManageWirelessNetworks tool to its lineup. If you take a look at the lead-in graphic above, you can see some of my traveling history enshrined in the profile names in the left-hand column. There, you’ll see names for hotels, law firms, and more amidst that list.

If NirSoft Adds Winning ManageWirelessNetworks Tool, Use It!

Many — nay, most — of the names in that list I will never need or use again. If you choose “Run as Administrator…” when you launch this tool, you can select obsolete or unneeded profiles in the UI. (Ctrl-click works to select multiple individual items; Shift-click works for ranges.) If you then click the red X in the icon bar above, they’ll all be deleted.

Here’s what my current list of active, valid Profile Names looks like after pruning, in fact:

After clean-up, the item count in the list drops from 26 to 6. Easily done, too!

Sure, you can remove stale entries for Wi-Fi networks at the command line. I wrote a post about this for the TechTarget incarnation of this blog back in 2017 “Clean Up Old Wireless Profiles in Windows 10.” But the NirSoft tool beats that method cold: it’s visual, lets you handle all stale entries in one go, and works like a champ. I’d long wondered why the NirSoft collection didn’t have such a tool already. Well now it does: and I’m glad!

As the old advertisement said: “Try it, you’ll like it!” I did, and I do. You can do likewise.

Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

First Look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC

May 12, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I’ve owned a Surface Pro 3 since 2014. Before that I owned a Fujitsu Q704. Both were small, powerful, somewhat loaded i7 tablets. I also had a Dell Venue Pro 11 with an i5 CPU. I liked all of those machines. Indeed, I appreciate a moderately powerful tablet PC that’s compact and can handle office/productivity work. That’s why I requested “something similar” from Lenovo. They sent me their latest detachable 11th Gen (Tiger Lake) ThinkPad X12 last week. This is my first look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC introduction and overview.

Speccy lists basic componentry: 4-core 11th-gen i7, 16 GB RAM, Iris Xe graphics, 1 TB WD SSD, Intel AX201 Wi-Fi.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Taking a First Look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC

Lenovo also sent me a full-sized wired keyboard and a ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2 (PN: 40AN0135US). I wouldn’t recommend attempting serious use of this device without a USB3 or Thunderbolt 3/4 dock, because it needs backup storage at a minimum. The ability to add one or two monitors via HDMI or DisplayPort is nice, as is wired GbE and a bunch of USB3 ports (4 on the back, 1 on the front). The unit I received MSRP is over US$2,500 but you won’t pay Lenovo more than US$1,700 to actually take it home (not including wired keyboard and Thunderbolt dock).

In the connectivity vein, the X12 features a Thunderbolt 4 controller for its USB-C ports. AFAIK, this is the first time I’ve worked with a PC that has Thunderbolt 4 support, rather than the preceding version. It picked up my Belkin dock immediately (though it’s a Tbolt 3 version device). It just happened to be sitting on the same desk, and immediately brought up the Seagate 5TB and a 16 GB Mushkin USB3 UFD, as you can see in the Speccy screencap above.

My first time to see Thunderbolt 4 come up in the eponymous control center app.

Basics Stats, Look and Feel

The tablet is thin and light (1.67 lbs sans keyboard; 2.4 lbs with). Dimensions are petite at 11.15 x 8.01 x 0.34″ (sans keyboard) or 0.57″ (with keyboard) (in mm that’s 283 x 204 x 8.6 or 14.5). Nevertheless, it feels pretty sturdy in the hand and on the lap (though I don’t much care for the lapabilty of this kind of PC ). If I’m not at a desk or table, I prefer to use the tablet by itself sans keyboard.

It’s got a full HD panel (1920×1280 pixels) that’s rated at around 400 nits of brightness. So far, I’ve found it fine for reading, surfing and handling email (but I really haven’t put it through too many of its paces just yet). I’m not quite familiar enough to rate its battery life yet, either. That said, it’s never flagged while I’ve used it, though I’ve yet to use it for longer than 4 hours.

More to Come … Soon

That’s it for today’s first look. I am impressed enough with the X12 to be considering a purchase of my own such unit. I will take more time to play, measure, and experiment. Then, I’ll know better if my desire to own this beast is merely a passing case of techno-lust, or a genuine desire to own another tablet to replace my aging Surface Pro 3. Stay tuned!

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

NirSoft BlueScreenView Worth Learning

May 10, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Israeli developer Nir Sofer is the person behind the outstanding Windows utility site nirsoft.net. I’ll be describing his blue screen viewing tool in today’s item. And when I explain what makes NirSoft BlueScreenView worth learning, I mean it is something handy to have around for both Windows professionals and enthusiasts.

Why say this? Because, sooner or later, nearly every Windows PC experiences a crash. In older Windows versions, such a screen was invariably blue. That earned it the initialism BSOD, for “Blue Screen of Death.” In Windows 10, such screens sometimes come up in green instead and may be called GSODs for that reason. For a fascinating historical look at BSODs from the past, check out Mark Russinovich’s evil little BlueScreen Screen Saver. It not only simulates BSODs, it also simulates the data acquisition and reboot phases that follow immediately thereafter. Says Russinovich “…its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers” (it does not, however, look like a real Windows 10 BSOD or GSOD). Like I said: it’s evil.

Why Is NirSoft BlueScreenView Worth Learning?

Simply put, this nice little tool reads the dump files that Windows collects as it recovers from a serious error. It provides immediate insight into what blew up, and what other OS and application modules were involved.

You can provoke BSOD with an input string to an administrative command prompt, if you like. WARNING! This will immediately crash the PC into which it is entered. Close all apps, and save your work beforehand, to avoid unpleasant surprises.

That command string is:

taskkill /im svchost.exe /f

Svchost.exe is a critical Windows 10 process. It acts as a shell for loading services based around dynamic load library (DLL) files. Because DLLs are often shared, multiple processes will call on a single svchost.exe instance to access its DLL. By running this command you’re killing all svchost instances immediately. This renders Windows unable to run, so it crashes instead.

The flag in the resulting BSOD reads “CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.” That brief phrase tells you that, except as a sure-fire way of provoking a BSOD, this is an extremely bad idea. But it’s a useful technique to cause a bluescreen, to show what NirSoft BlueScreenView can do.

Dump files in top pane, Dump trace in lower pane. This one shows the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error from the lead-in graphic.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Working Through BlueScreenView Output

As you examine the image above, you’ll see a dump file that starts with a date string (051021) and ends with the tell-tale file extension “.dmp”. It shows a time stamp, the bug check string, and a bug check code, followed by up to 4 parameters. It also shows which driver caused the crash: in this case, we killed the driver for the operating sytem kernel itself! (That’s noskrnl.exe plus a hex offset, as shown in column 9.)

Generally when I’m using this tool, I look first at Column 9 (caused by driver). That’s because the transitory blue screen window provides most of the preceding data. I usually care most about the bug check string and code because they make dandy lookup strings for guidance online. Column 9 points to the actual cause, and can be extremely informative.

Spend a little time with this tool, and use it to practice reading dump files. Trust me: it’ll come in handy someday. ‘Nuff said

Hardware Reviews, Networking, Recent Activity, Services, WED Blog, Windows OS Musings

Pondering Amazon Fire HD vs. iPad

April 28, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Today’s disquisition is a bit off the beaten track and brings Windows 10 to bear only tangentially. My family is in the market for another tablet, primarily for reading and media consumption. I’ve already owned an iPad 2 (now retired) and currently own an iPad Air 2 (2014 vintage). You’d think I’d buy another iPad, right? But the model I want (iPad Air, 256 GB, cellular) costs a whopping US$879 at the Apple Store right now. And then, there’s a new generation of Fire HD tablets about to arrive, at less than half that cost. By the time I add in a cover and keyboard, it’s more like a 2.5:1 cost ratio. Frankly, that’s what has me pondering Amazon Fire HD vs. iPad.

Price Provokes Pondering Amazon Fire HD vs. iPad

On the plus side, the iPad offers more power, lighter weight, and higher screen readability. On the minus side, it ends up costing $700 more for more or less the same capability, most of the time. At 12 hours versus 10 hours of battery life, the Amazon Fire HD comes out ahead on untethered operation, too. Then too, the Fire HD Plus Pack costs under US$300. The device even accommodates a MicroSD card for added storage capability (which the iPad does not, though you can attach storage through its input port, using a special US$13 to 20 adapter).

What’s fascinating to me, though, is the front-and-center add-in on the Fire HD of a Microsoft 365 subscription. Though it means you can use the unit for web-based Office right away, I’m also convinced it will be usable as a Cloud PC client (as will the iPad also, no doubt) when that comes out later this year. Thus, either platform will serve as a “thin client” for my Windows 10 stuff sooner or later.

To me that raises the very real question of why I should spend 333% more to get an iPad? Shoot, it looks like Fire HD can do most of what I need for substantially less. For a lot of people, I’m thinking that’s exactly what Amazon wants. I may just try it, and see what happens!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

21364 Update Woes Continue

April 24, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK, then: i’ve recently reported a documented issue with KB5001030. It’s a CU Preview for .NET 3.5 and 4.8 and has been documented in the 21364 release announcement as a “known issue.” But now, a new cumulative update KB5003397 — a so-called “do-nothing update” which “does not include anything new and is designed to test our servicing pipeline” is out. However, my 21364 update woes continue because now I can’t install either one of these new updates. Sigh.

Nothing happens, in fact, when I try to update my Lenovo X220 Tablet. As the lead-in graphic above shows, it hangs while downloading at 0% completion. Running the update troubleshooter or even the TenForums Update Reset Batch Script doesn’t help either. Thus I say: my Dev Channel machines are stuck, going nowhere fast!

What Does 21364 Update Woes Continue Mean?

It means I can’t update either of my Dev Channel Insider Preview test machines successfully right now. I also think it means that I’m waiting on the next Feature Upgrade (a new version, in other words) to get things moving again. It’s a little hard to tell.

My gut feeling is the update pipeline is currently blocked for Dev Channel images (on my two test machines, at least). Usually, when things go sideways with Insider Preview updates I can figure out some way to get around the roadblock, though.

Later on today, or perhaps tomorrow, I’ll visit UUPdump.ml and see if they’ve got a 21364 image that can slipstream in those two troublesome updates. If so, I’ll build an ISO and use it to perform an in-place repair upgrade as a workaround. Right now, I’m increasingly convinced it might be my only way around this roadblock.

Stay tuned! I’ll report back and let you know if that works. It’s possible that working offline on the image might get around whatever is interfering online (it often does). We’ll see…

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10

Compact Mode Great New Explorer Control

April 19, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

If you’re using an Insider Preview at Build 21377 or higher, you have access to a nice new view tool in File Explorer. It reduces the spacing between entries in File Explorer views, so you can see more in the display area. The more expanded view is now the default, to make it easier for touch access and control. But if you’re like me, you’re mostly still using a mouse and keyboard. In my book, that makes compact mode great new explorer control for most of my usage scenarios. The item is checked and outlined in red in the lead-in graphic for this story (above).

Why Say: Turning on Compact Mode Great New Explorer Control?

Open up the control panel utility named File Explorer Options, click the View tab, then scroll down until you can see the Navigation Pane folder. The Use compact mode checkbox appears 5 lines above. If you open both Explorer and this utility at the same time, you can see for yourself how it affects the various File Explorer views (icon based by size, Tiles, List, Content and Details).

Open a View, click the checkbox by Use compact mode, then watch how it affects File Explorer. Uncheck the box to see what wider spacing means in each view. To my untutored by experienced eye, it looks like I can see about twice as many entries in compact mode as opposed to regular mode. My strong preference is for compact mode, and it’s something I set on all new Insider Preview installations.

Not at Issue in 20H2 or 21H1, Earlier Builds

This new spaced-out version of File Explorer only affects Dev Channel builds at present. You won’t see a “Use Compact Mode” option in those older incarnations of Windows 10. Thus, there’s no call to mess with a default that’s not there, either. For those of you not using Insider Previews, then, file this for possible future reference. Cheers!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows OS Musings

News & Interests Gets General Dev Channel Release

April 16, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Just over a week ago, I wrote a post here bemoaning my Dev Channel test PCs’ lack of the News & Interests notification bar feature. It has been in A/B test mode — that is, available to some but not all Dev Channel PCs — for months. It’s a gamble of sorts whether one gets such features or not, and explains that post’s title: Losing Win10 A/B Testing Wagers. But with the release of Build 21359, News & Interests gets general Dev Channel release. My two Lenovo ThinkPad test machines — the X380 Yoga and the X220 Tablet — now sport this new feature, fully-realized.

When News & Interests Gets General Dev Channel Release, Contortions Follow

The first I noticed after rebooting into 21359 was that N&I (my shorthand for News & Interests) was still MIA. A quick check on the Windows Insider MVP Yammer community told me two things:

I was not alone in this experience
Another reboot would put N&I in its rightful place

This worked perfectly on my X220 Tablet where I’d left hidden feature tweaking alone. My X380 was another story…

ViVeTool Rears Its Vexing Head

I’m not the world’s most patient guy. When I learn about A/B feature testing in Windows 10 and I’m not on the receiving side, I’ve been known to turn to hacking tools to turn them on anyway. One such item, named ViVeTool, comes from developer Albacore aka thebookisclosed whose work I’ve been following for years. Here’s how he describes this offering “ViVeTool is … a straightforward tool for power users which want to use the new APIs instantly … to interact with Windows 10’s A/B feature mechanism.” In other words, it lets you turn on what might be turned off in your image, or vice-versa.

I’d done that on the X380 Yoga some while back. But this tweaked N&I did not work properly on that machine. “Hmmm” I wondered “could ViveTool be responsible?” It seems to have been. Once I enabled, then disabled the ViveTool settings for N&I, then rebooted again, it worked perfectly on the X380 Yoga, too.

Tweaking Requires Self-Cleanup

I’ve learned a lesson from this. From now on, if I want to mess with the base test image for Windows 10 that MS gives me, I’m doing it in a VM. I can use snapshotting mechanisms to roll back tweaks quickly and easily. I feel lucky that do/redo with ViveTool in 21359 set things back to rights so that N&I could work as designed. Otherwise, I’d have been forced to clean install that build to heal my own self-inflicted wounds.

If you want to play or tweak, I recommend you do so in a safe and pseudo-sandboxed way. That’s my approach from now on. It comes with the ability to fool around as one likes, without having to live permanently with the results afterward. Please learn from my mis-steps and do likewise!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10

New 21359 Power Option Restarts Apps

April 15, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Just yesterday, a new Dev Channel Build arrived for Insiders. Among the many items mentioned in the 21359 announcement comes an interesting new Restart item in Start → Power. Shown boxed in red in the lead-in graphic here, it reads “Restart apps after signing in.” This new 21359 Power option restarts apps after it restarts the OS, to put things back as they were.

Why New 21359 Power Option Restarts Apps?

This has sometimes happened in earlier Insider Previews, but not at the user’s behest. One can one suppose that enough users provided feedback that this feature might be nice. But it’s definitely something that users will want to choose (or not) as circumstances dictate.

Thus, for example, when I’m troubleshooting or getting ready to install new hardware or a new app, I’d much prefer to restart without all the “stuff” currently occupying my desktop. OTOH, if I’m restarting after an update or to incorporate a new driver, I’d just as soon go back to whatever I was doing beforehand.

This new option lets users pick a restart scenario. The old, plain Restart brings no apps back. The new “Restart apps after signing in” restores current desktop state. Both have their uses, so I must approve and endorse this change.

NOTE: New Setting Is a Toggle

One more thing: this new item is actually a toggle. If you choose it and use it, the checkbox remains on. Thus, if you don’t want to use it the next time you restart, you must uncheck the item to go back to the prior status quo. Don’t forget! Especially if you don’t want this setting to become your default Restart behavior.

Driver Update Means Blinking Monitor Gets Easy Fix